Identity (2003)

Director:  James Mangold
Writer: Michael Cooney
Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes, Alfred Molina, Vlea DuVall, John C. McGinley, William Lee Scott, Jake Busey, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Rebecca De Mornay
Genre: Thriller, Mystery

Identity starts out as your everyday thriller, and does so with a great understanding of the genre. It rains enough to ruin roads, a group of strangers is stranded at a remote motel and none of them are who they seem to be. They live lies or at least they just lie, and then people starts dying. You've seen it a million times before, and it still feels kind of fresh. The cast includes the unconventional hero-star John Cusack, up-and-coming Amanda Peet, B-star Ray Liotta and another group of more or less familiar cast-members whom manages to deliver the story credible enough to keep the audience's interest.

Then we've got the death-sentenced prisoner worked into the story, making sure we know everything isn't as clear cut as it seems at first glance. Sadly that's also where the movie fails. As long as they stayed within the premise I had no problems, but as soon as they dropped the death-sentenced prisoner, his attorney and a meeting into the mix, I rapidly lost any interest, and was again reminded why it's so difficult to make intelligent thrillers with nerve, an original story and twists everyone can embrace; most directors forget which story is the most important one to tell. That's the very same mistake director James Mongold (Girl, Interrupted, Knight and Day, 3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) also makes here.

Don't try to outsmart your audience, and at least not with such a plain premise. With half the movie to go I could easily predict the rest. That's just sad. Identity is still worth a study in several of the genres most interesting aspects, it's better acting than most thrillers can deliver and in bits and pieces it's at least several inspiring ideas to take away from it.